The Most Unlikely
by She.Is-A.Writer-Of.Stories
Summary: In which no one saw the fact that Loki is good with babies coming. One-shot.


A/N: Who would have known that the crazy prince that tried to rule earth would be good with a new born? Certainly not earth.

In which, Loki is a baby person

Nobody in the whole world- no, scratch that- nobody in the whole _universe_ could have seen this coming.

Sure, he wasn't particularly horrifying to look at, not all that physically imposing. Given his heritage, he wasn't even that tall.

Children who saw him just glanced at him, pointed, and then went on with their day, just as just about everyone who saw him did these days.

But still.

Nobody would have _ever_ suspected it.

That Loki Odinsson.

Loki Luafeysson.

Loki Whoever'sson.

 _The_ Loki, the one that tried leveling half of New York-

Would be _good with babies._

It wasn't like it was planned.

No, no. Loki didn't go out one day thinking _I'm in the mood for saving infants today._

He didn't even leave the Compound.

Thor had decided to visit his Misgardian friends, something about Jane winning a prize and the Avengers throwing a Party and some agent or another coming back from the dead- useless Misgardian events. All that aside, he decided to take Loki along for the ride. Seeing as the trickster had turned for the better after all that Thanos nonsense, he wanted to put his brother on display, _Look at him! He's one of us now! Put down that metal arm, Stark, he won't try to kill you…again._

To say Loki had been bored out of his mind the moment he stepped foot back on the planet was an understatement. But he was here for Thor and promised to be on his 'Best behavior'…whatever that entailed.

So, they went to Misgard.

After everyone had been talked down and out of killing Loki on the spot, and after someone wrangled the Infinity Gauntlet from Tony- who had even _given_ him that?- They were welcomed into the Compound for their stay.

Now, it was the evening before the party, people were setting up, lights were being strung up, a strange table that emitted annoying, rhythmic sounds was placed in a corner, and Loki was standing there with nothing to do.

It was- supposedly- to be a small and quiet event- that awful table did little to prove that- so it was apparently misgardian child-age appropriate.

The little troll-sized beings were running around, causing havoc, _offspring's of agents Barton and agent Lang._

Loki had never been one to appreciate the fragile things, though he could sense an adventurous, rowdy spirit he himself had as a child. Though he aged much slower and was therefore adventurous for a far longer time. Despite that fact, he still tried to tune out their screeching cries as they played some sort of game.

The female agent Barton- Loki had no desire to learn her name- kept watch over them, chastising them when she saw need.

When she wasn't focused on the ones that could walk, she turned her attention to a newer one. One that could not yet speak nor walk.

It could scream though, as it so dutifully demonstrated three times in the past hour.

"Hungry." The agent had explained each time Loki cast a glance their way from his spot on one of the lavish sofas, trying to read a Misgardian news article- a _tabloid_ he believe the Witch had called it…he rather liked her, but he would focus on that later- his focus in general was split, as the newborn was trying it's very hardest to be heard.

After a moment, the agent was called away to some duty, and the child was not permitted to follow. Loki was trying to mind his own business once again, but when the agent came into his field of vison, he cast the frivolous new article aside and looked up at her.

She was older, not as old as he, but were he from Misgard he would have been considered younger then her. She was bouncing the child gently in her arms, looking down on him with a look he could only describe as _cautious disdain_.

She looked from the child, to him, around the room as though searching for something, then back to him with a terrifying resolve showing in her eyes.

"I need to take care of something, Nathaniel can't come with me. No one else is around, so could you keep an eye on him?"

Loki raised an eyebrow. Was she really entrusting her precious infant in his care? Did she not know his history?

As though reading his mind, she said, "It won't take long. But if you hurt him, you'll have the Hulk to answer to, again."

Without waiting for his consent, she carefully, though hurriedly-she had done this before, it seemed- placed the child in his arms and ran off without looking back.

Loki watched after her a moment, a bit helpless as he watched her form retreat.

Sighing, he looked down at the child.

Though he had once been considered a villain, it was not his own will he had carried out. In fact, he had had no control over his own actions whatsoever. Even when he had been, he had been a trickster in his realm. Renowned for his slipperiness and tendencies to deceive.

Given all that, he had a type of moral code that none knew of.

He would never _ever_ hurt a child.

-or woman unless absolutely necessary, but that was another thing-

Loki had always secretly prided himself on one thing, his willingness to protect those that had no one else to do so.

He rarely, if ever, let it show. He often disguised himself while on Asgard and went about the villages away from the palace, helping orphans and widows, and some of the more ancient ones of their race. No one ever knew it was him, and he never caught a persona, as he changed his appearance each time.

So no one ever knew he was good with babies.

The small things actually loved him. Each time he was in the local nurse house, the healers and handlers would watch as this man would go around and soothe the little ones. After a while, they of course suspected something, but none ever questioned the whereabouts of a certain raven-haired prince. Nor did the healers comment on how strange it was that every week a different man with the same effect would visit the nurse houses.

The alien was brought back to the present when the fragile thing started wailing in his arms.

Slightly alarmed-as he always was at first- Loki looked down at the baby. He could only imagine what he had looked like as a babe, crying and helpless in his adoptive father's arms.

Huffing slightly, Loki began to rock the child, humming a tune his mother sang to him centuries ago when he was small. The text was long forgotten, but the vocalization was prominent in the trickster's mind. Everyone always said he had a silver tongue, but those who truly knew him- Thor and Frigga, namely- knew his voice was silk to that silver.

As a child he would sing to himself as he completed mundane tasks throughout the day, and it carried on into his adolescence. He stopped, however after Thor's friends heard him one day…

He was again pulled from his musings as the child he was looking after calmed slightly, his screams of outrage dying down to small sniffles and a few pitiful whimpers. Loki smiled down at the infant, "Don't worry little one. One day, you'll learn to do that on the inside."

"Dude, are you…ok?"

Loki's head snapped up, for once in his life unaware that he had garnered an audience.

The Falcon, the large monster, doctor whatever, and the witch were all watching him with strange expressions etched onto their faces.

Loki mentally chastised himself for allowing his gaze to linger on the only woman in the group longer than necessary, and glanced back down to the child, "He may as well learn the valuable life lesson. He's being waited on hand and foot during this period of life, he should save the tears for something more important."

Nobody commented on the sour underlying tone of his voice, but all three moved into the room.

Sam grabbed the babe from his arms, and Loki was a bit loathe to admit that he immediately missed the warm weight. Stupid sentiment.

Wanda gingerly sat beside him, eyeing the child for a moment before directing her attention back to him, strange look still in place, "You have a nice voice."

Loki floundered for a moment, unsure of how to take her small praise, before saying, "So I've been told."

This seemed to be the wrong response, as the girl rolled her eyes and slumped back into the couch with more force then necessary.

That moment, the female Barton walked back in, noting that Sam had her child instead.

Regardless, she looked to both men, "Thank you. Hope he wasn't too much trouble."

Sam shrugged, having caught the tail end of Nathaniel's good mood.

Loki simply gave the faintest of smiles, "None at all."


End file.
